en Makram Ayache

Makram Ayache
Makram Ayache
Born	December 4, 1990 (age 34)
Occupation(s)	Playwright, theatre actor, director, producer
Notable work	The Green Line; The Hooves Belonged to the Deer;
Awards	Governor General Literary Award Finalist (2024); Betty Mitchell Award Recipient (2022); Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Outstanding Independent Production Award Recipient (2023); Playwrights' Guild of Canada's Tom Hendry Outstanding Emerging Artist Recipient (2020);
Website	www.makramayache.com

Makram Ayache is a Canadian playwright and actor, whose play The Green Line was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2024 Governor General's Awards.^[1]

Born in Lebanon and raised in rural Alberta, he is a graduate of the University of Alberta, and currently divides his time between Edmonton and Toronto.^[2]

His first play, Harun, was staged at the Sage Theatre's Ignite! festival in Calgary in 2017.^[3] It was subsequently remounted at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival in 2018.^[4] It received an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award nomination for Outstanding Fringe New Work in 2019,^[5] and won the Playwrights Guild of Canada's RBC Emerging Playwright Award in 2020.^[2]

The Green Line premiered in 2022 at Calgary's Arts Commons,^[6] and was a Betty Award winner for Outstanding New Play that year.^[7]

In 2023, his play The Hooves Belonged to the Deer premiered in Toronto, as a collaboration between Tarragon Theatre and Buddies in Bad Times.^[8] It was subsequently remounted in Edmonton at the Edmonton Fringe Theatre Arts Barn. It received an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding Independent Production that year.

Ayache identifies as queer.^[9]

References

^ "Jordan Abel, Danny Ramadan and Cherie Dimaline among finalists for $25K Governor General's Literary Awards". CBC Books, October 8, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Makram Ayache". Toronto Metropolitan University Asian Heritage in Canada.
^ "Emerging artists'voices find space on centre stage; Sage Theatre's Ignite! festival offers mix of different perspectives writes Louis Hobson". Calgary Herald, June 3, 2017.
^ Janet French, "Fringe review: Harun". Edmonton Journal, August 20, 2018.
^ "Nominees for the Sterling Awards, 2018-19". Edmonton Journal, June 4, 2019.
^ Louis B. Hobson, "Review: The Green Line's Lebanese love stories have deep potential". Calgary Herald, April 4, 2022.
^ Michele Jarvie, "Betty nominations announced for best of Calgary theatre in 2021-22". Calgary Herald, August 4, 2022.
^ J. Kelly Nestruck, "Smart and sensual The Hooves Belonged to the Deer hits Tarragon Theatre: Rising Lebanese-Canadian playwright brings together themes of race, religion and sexuality in a story set in small-town Alberta". The Globe and Mail, April 6, 2023.
^ Makram Ayache, "A Portrait of Shame: How The Hooves Belonged to the Deer Reckons with Religious Domination of the Queer Spirit". Intermission, March 23, 2023.